Digital Literacy for St. Cloud State University
Karl Kapp on Death by Powerpoint
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more on death by PowerPoint in this IMS blog
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=death+by+power+point
Bored students is the least of it – the bullet point-ization of information is making us stupid and irresponsible
The genesis story runs like this: from the late 1950s corporations began to realise that, rather than going to the trouble of developing new products they hoped would meet a need, they could use marketeers to create the perception of need, then develop products to meet it (a shift brilliantly dramatised in the TV series Mad Men). To do this, different departments had to be able to speak to each other, to sell ideas internally. So while there had always been meetings, now there were meetings about meetings and – hey presto! – the modern world was born.
The presentational precursor to PowerPoint was the overhead projector, which is why PP screens are still called “slides”. The program owes most to Whitfield Diffie, one of the time lords of online cryptography, but it was quickly snapped up by Microsoft. Its coding/marketing roots are intrinsic to its cognitive style, being relentlessly linear and encouraging short, affirmative, jargonesque assertions: arguments that are resolved, untroubled by shades of grey.
It’s no coincidence that the two most famous PowerPoint presentations are: a) the one presented to Nasa managers by engineers, explaining with unarguable illogic why damaged tiles on the space shuttle Columbia were probably nothing to fret about; and b) General Colin Powell’s equally fuzzy pitch for war with Iraq. Now, blaming PowerPoint for Iraq would be a bit like blaming Darwin for Donald Trump, but the program made scrutiny of the case harder. Not for nothing did Brigadier General McMaster, of the US military, subsequently liken the proliferation of PP presentation in the military to an “internal threat”, saying: “It’s dangerous because it can create the illusion of understanding and the illusion of control. Some problems are not bullet-izable.”
More on the topic in this blog:
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims/2013/11/11/death-by-powerpoint/
maximise PowerPoint’s true potential.
Course content
what is it:
http://www.slideshare.net/thecroaker/death-by-powerpoint
http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2013/08/death-by-powerpoint-2/
http://www4.ncsu.edu/unity/lockers/users/f/felder/public/Columns/PowerPoint.pdf
http://www.forbes.com/sites/rogerdooley/2012/10/11/death-by-powerpoint/
how it could be:
Nancy Duarte: The secret structure of great talks
http://www.ted.com/talks/nancy_duarte_the_secret_structure_of_great_talks.html
Cheating Death by PowerPoint: Analyze and Synthesize
http://my.brainshark.com/Cheating-Death-by-PowerPoint-Analyze-and-Synthesize-738618804
how to do storytelling:
How to tell a story (6 talks)
please have a link to a PDF copy print out instruction sessions spring 2016
Dreamweaver: 4 Mondays – 10-10:45AM . Jan 18, 25, Feb 1, 8 ; location MC 205. attendees cap is 5
Keywords: web development, web design, Adobe Dreamweaver
Description: Adobe Dreamweaver CC is the default web development tool on campus. In four consecutive weeks, learn the basics of Dreamweaver, web development, web design and maintaining web pages on the Web. Site map and site structure. HTML and HTML5 basics, basics of CSS, page properties, text editing, hyperlinks and images, tables, forms.
Remote participation through desktopsharing at http://scsuconnect.stcloudstate.edu/ims upon registration and specific request
Photoshop: 4 Tuesdays – – 10-10:45AM . Jan 19, 26, Feb 2, 9 ; location MC 205. attendees cap is 5
Keywords: image processing, image editing, visual literacy, Adobe Photoshop
Description: In four 45 min sessions, learn the basics of image editing. A comprehensive understanding of Adobe Photoshop and its essential tools. Design and edit, adjusting images for the Internet and print outs. Learn image formats, compressions, layers. Retouching, repairing and correcting photos
Remote participation through desktopsharing at http://scsuconnect.stcloudstate.edu/ims upon registration and specific request
Social Media in Education 9:30-10:15 AM. Feb 3, 10, 17, 24. location MC 205. attendees cap is 15
Keywords: social media, social media in education, social media and learning, social media and teaching, social media and communication, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, Diigo, Delicious, Evernote, SideVibe, Pinterest, Vine, Snapchat, Google+, Zotero, Mendeley, blogs, wikis, podcasts, visuals, text
Description: In four 45 min sessions, structure your approach to social media and assess how to use in teaching and learning. What is social media and how to use it. How to discriminate between personal and professional use of social media. Amidst 180 most popular social media tools, acquire a robust structure to cluster them and orient yourself quick and easy, which tools fit best your teaching materials and methods to enable learning and communication with your students. Visuals versus text and how to combine them for effective communication and teaching. Policies, engagement of students. Expanding and improving research and organization of your research through social media and networking toward your research through social media.
Remote participation through desktopsharing at http://scsuconnect.stcloudstate.edu/ims upon registration and specific request
Cheating: what, why and how to avoid: Jan 28, 10-10:45AM . location MC 205. attendees cap is 15
Keywords: cheating, academic dishonesty, academic integrity, plagiarism.
Description: in 45 minutes we can start a conversation about identification of cheating practices and determination of what plagiarism is, considering generational differences, the evolution of the Internet. Identifying of “cheating” can provide robust boundaries for understanding students’ behavior and identifying practices and methods to alleviate such behavior, including change of teaching methods and practices.
Remote participation through desktopsharing at http://scsuconnect.stcloudstate.edu/ims upon registration and specific request
10 basics steps to start social media. March 16, 11-11:45AM location MC 205. attendees cap is 15
Keywords: social media, social media in education, social media and learning, social media and teaching, social media and communication, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, Diigo, Delicious, Evernote, SideVibe, Pinterest, Vine, Snapchat, Google+, Zotero, Mendeley, blogs, wikis, podcasts, visuals, text
Description: introduction to social media and its use for personal and professional purposes. Ideas and scenarios of using different social media tools in education. Hands-on exercises for using social media in teaching.
Remote participation through desktopsharing at http://scsuconnect.stcloudstate.edu/ims upon registration and specific request
Games and Gamification in Education. Feb 24 2-2:45PM, March 25, 10-10:45AM, April 14, 2-2:45PM MC 205, attendees cap is 5
Keywords: play, games, serious games, game-based learning, gaming, gamification.
Description: Gaming and Gamification is one of the most pronounced trends in education as per the New Horizon Report. Besides the increase of participation and enthusiasm, it increases learning. Introduction to gaming and gamification by establishing definitions, learning to distinguish gaming and gamification and learning the basics of gaming and gamification in the teaching process. Hands-on exercises for introducing gaming practices in the teaching and learning process and gamifying the existing syllabi.
Remote participation through desktopsharing at http://scsuconnect.stcloudstate.edu/ims upon registration and specific request
Teaching Online. Jan. 29. 10-10:45AM. Feb 18, 2-2:45PM, March 30, 3-3:45 PM MC 205. attendees cap is 5.
Keywords: online teaching, mobile teaching, distance education, distributive learning, hybrid learning, hybrid teaching, blended learning
Description: this 45 min session is aimed to help you transition your F2F teaching to hybrid and online teaching. Learn about synchronous and asynchronous modes of teaching and communication to structure and organize your class materials and methods for better delivery. Hands-on exercises for improving content delivery, class discussions and communications among instructor and students.
Remote participation through desktopsharing at http://scsuconnect.stcloudstate.edu/ims upon registration and specific request
Effective Presentations. Jan 28, 2-2:45PM. MC 205. attendees cap is 10
Keywords: presentations, PowerPoint, alternatives to PowerPoint, presentation design, presentation essentials, Prezi, SlideShare, LodeStar, Zentation, Zoho, Powtoon, Zaption, Thinglink, Haiku, Kahoot, Storify, EdPuzzle, PollDaddy, Evernote, Mammoth, SideVibe, Paddlet, Remind, Death by PowerPoint, visual literacy, media literacy, digital literacy, visuals
Description: https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims/2016/01/07/effective-presentations/ . These four 45 minute sessions are aimed to introduce and orient faculty, staff and students to the opulence of alternatives to PowerPoint and revisit the basics of well-tailored presentation. Hands-on exercises for improving the structure and delivery of presentation as well as the choice of presentation tools.
Remote participation through desktopsharing at http://scsuconnect.stcloudstate.edu/ims upon registration and specific request
Death by PowerPoint. Feb 26, 10-10:45PM. MC 205. attendees cap is 10
Keywords: presentations, PowerPoint, alternatives to PowerPoint, presentation design, presentation essentials, Death by PowerPoint, visual literacy, media literacy, digital literacy, visuals.
Description: https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims/2016/01/07/effective-presentations/ . This 45 minute session is aimed to introduce and orient faculty, staff and students to the basics of PowerPoint and revisit the basics of a well-tailored presentation. Hands-on exercises for improving the structure and delivery of presentation as well as the choice of presentation tools.
Remote participation through desktopsharing at http://scsuconnect.stcloudstate.edu/ims upon registration and specific request
Contemplative Computing or Disconnect: How to Bring Balance in Your Life by Managing well Your Technology. Feb 17. 2-2:45PM. MC 205. attendees cap is 10
Keywords: disconnect, Sherry Turkle, contemplative computing, mediation, contemplative practices, balance, technology stress
Description: this 45 min session introduces faculty, staff and students to the idea of regulating the use of technology in a meaningful way. Hands-on exercises and sharing good practices on balancing the use of technology in daily life.
Remote participation through desktopsharing at http://scsuconnect.stcloudstate.edu/ims upon registration and specific request
Videos in the classroom: fast and easy. Jan 28, 10-10:45PM. MC 205. attendees cap is 5.
Keywords: video, video editing, video manipulation, visual literacy, digital literacy, MovieMaker, iMovie, Instagram, Vine, YouTube, Kaltura
Description: this 45 min session is an orientation to the resources available for delivery of visual materials in the classroom. Hands-on experience of different basics tools on different computer platforms.
Remote participation through desktopsharing at http://scsuconnect.stcloudstate.edu/ims upon registration and specific request
Voice Over presentations: solutions. Feb 4, 10-10:45PM. MC 205. attendees cap is 5.
Keywords: PowerPoint, VoiceThread, LodeStar, MediaSpace (Kaltura), audio editing, narration
Description: https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims/2015/04/28/voice-over-presentation-solutions/ . This 45 min session is a short hands-on introduction to the tools available at MnSCU intuitions and free third-party applications for delivery of narrative attached to presentations.
Remote participation through desktopsharing at http://scsuconnect.stcloudstate.edu/ims upon registration and specific request
Infographics: make your projects, presentations and research credible through presentable data. Feb 10, 2-2:45PM. March 29, 10-10:45AM, MC 205. attendees cap is 10
Keywords: Piktochart, Infogr, Visualy, statistics, visual literacy, digital literacy
Description: https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims/2014/04/09/infographics-how-to-create-them/. This 45 min session is an orientation to the world of infographics. Short introduction to the basics of statistics and their importance in presenting a research and idea. Hands-on exercise using one of the 3 popular infographic tools.
Plan
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More on presentations in this IMS blog:
free image sources:
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims/2014/06/01/social-media-and-presentations-free-image-sources/
Presentation tools for teachers:
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims/2014/07/09/2014-best-educational-web-sites/
Basics of design:
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims/2013/01/22/basics-of-design/
Short link the information below on the IMS blog: https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims/?p=4441 and even shorter one: http://scsu.mn/1RsQErr
Weds 6th–
Plamen Miltenoff and Emil Towner
Join us online via Adobe Connect: http://scsuconnect.stcloudstate.edu/ims (please login as a “guest” and use your real name)
Outline
In this rapid succession of examples, one can experience a showcase how to enhance students’ engagement by modernizing D2L experience through connection with social media. Bring your own examples and participate in a discussion, which aims finding the right tools for your class and field of study.
Audience:
beginners to advanced
Prerequisite:
come with your own social media accounts: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Vine
Outcomes:
By the end of this session, the participants will have an idea about peculiarity of each of the social media tools: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Vine
By the end of the session, the participants will be familiar with the integration of each of the social media tool into D2L
By the end of the session, the participants will be able to asses to what extent each particular tool fits their field of study
By the end of the session, the participants will be able to compare the pedagogical advantages and disadvantages of the social media tools compared to D2L
Useful links to contact us via social media:
IMS blog: https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims
IMS Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/InforMediaServices?ref=hl
IMS Twitter: https://twitter.com/SCSUtechinstruc
IMS Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/scsutechnology/
IMS Instagram: http://instagram.com/scsutechinstruct
IMS YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_UMIE5r6YB8KzTF5nZJFyA
IMS Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/115966710162153290760/posts/p/pub
IMS LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/scsuinstructionaltechnology
Plan – Plamen Miltenoff:
Please consider the following survey about your opinion regarding social media in education:
*http://aidemoreto.polldaddy.com/s/social-media-in-education*
please have the short link: http://scsu.mn/1Z8EFFx
most recent contemplations about blogs and social media in general:
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims/2016/01/01/4507/
Plan – Emil Towner:
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Outline
As part of the broader discussion, a short discussion segment to form and agree on definitions and terms regarding games and gamification. Another short segment to seek consensus if this SCSU campus is ready to departure on the path of gamifying education. After several examples, of how games are used in education and gamification techniques, a discussion on how gaming and gamification can be streamlined amidst shrinking budget and increasing workload. More details and information about gaming and gamification at: http://scsu.mn/1F008Re
Audience:
beginners to advanced
Outcomes:
By the end of this session, the participants will have a working definitions on play, games, serious games, game-based learning, digital game-based learning, gaming, gamification and badges. (more at http://scsu.mn/1F008Re)
By the end of the session, the participants will be familiar with the possibilities for integration of games in the educational process and for gamification of the educational process.
By the end of the session, the participants will be able to asses to what extent games and gamification fit their field of study
Plan:
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Friday 8th
Outline
Two trends plague education: the swamp of PowerPoint presentations and the lack of visual literacy. In this rapid succession of examples, one can experience a showcase of various cloud-based tools, which brings visual presentations way beyond PowerPoint and align with the Millennials demand for current social interaction. A discussion on how relevant these tools are to various disciplines and details on improving the interaction among instructors and students during the presentation. Ongoing discussion about design as part of visual literacy and the difference between blended learning and technology integration.
Audience:
beginners to advanced
Outcomes:
By the end of this session, the participants will have understand the movement “Death by PowerPoint” and will understand the advantage of cloud-based presentation tools to MS PowerPoint
By the end of the session, the participants will be familiar with several tools, which successfully replace PowerPoint and well beyond.
By the end of the session, the participants will be able to asses to what extent games and gamification fit their field of study
By the end of the session, the participants will be able to discriminate between technology integration and blended learning.
Plan:
“unicorn” companies — startups that reach a $1 billion valuation before their IPO. IPOs: Initial Public Offerings
http://www.businessinsider.com/evernote-the-first-dead-unicorn-2015-9
But unicorns are no longer so rare, and failure is part of a healthy economy’s means of turning over into new ideas and new leadership. With tech in the midst of a wide-ranging boom, there are other, more financially-stable and innovative companies hungry to hire away talent into positions better suited to the employees and the economy as a whole.
Aside from anecdotal stories like the Zirtual mess, unicorns don’t simply vanish over the weekend like Bear Sterns. Unicorns die a slow death as their core products lose relevance, new product initiatives fail, user growth slips away, costs mount, and key employees and talent drain from the system.
After a multi-year period of what can only be described radio silence from Evernote, the company made a change at CEO in late July of this year. Phil Libin, a member of the founding team who had repeatedly talked about building Evernote into a ‘100 year company,’ was departing and handing the role over to Google Glass executive Chris O’Neill.
Aside from Evernote’s success in China, the Evernote of 2012 sounds little like that of 2015. The short-term market conditions that Evernote of 2012 worried about failed to materialize
Evernote competes with Dropbox, Box, iCloud, and Google Drive in cloud storage, Instapaper and Spool in web clipping, and Photoshop and Gimp in image editing as Evernote acquired image annotator Skitch last year. The wealth of established competitors indicate a challenge for Evernote, but also a clear need for its products. Libin tells me he doesn’t see competitors as Evernote’s biggest threat, though.
Most business customers are using other products already that more than adequately address the need of a note taking application. Many customers have long converted to Google Apps, which bundles document sharing (and spreadsheets, and ‘power point’) into a larger, more valuable suite of products centered around Gmail. Microsoft’s OneNote is available for free, and its collaboration tools are available already for organizations running Microsoft’s Office 365.
The most interesting shift away from an Evernote-like model is Slack, which has seen its own meteoric growth into the unicorn club. Slack’s power is not just as a messaging platform; it’s a real, live, categorized and searchable history of business happenings sorted by channel.
http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/make-your-twitter-profile-stand-out
This one’s easy: Don’t do what everyone else is doing. If you see a trend popping up in bios, don’t immediately change your bio to reflect that trend. Everyone ends up using the same verbiage, the same phrases, the same descriptors.
Another trend is to include a disclaimer—the most popular being, “Views are my own.” This is the Twitter equivalent of saying “I will bore you to death.” This disclaimer doesn’t serve any real legal purpose, nor will it save your job. If your employer requires it, do it, but other than that, leave it off.
The key takeaway here? When you see a trend, run the other way. If you’re compelled to follow a popular trend, at least put it through your personal lens first. Change it enough that the thread is there, but it’s clear you’ve put more thought into it than simply following the crowd.
Make an impact on your audience by crafting a sentence or two that convey your expertise. Choose the most important things you do; state them in a clear, compelling way; and then explain why your skills should matter to the visitor. The challenge, of course, is brevity.
In addition consider that hashtags, @s and links—the language of Twitter—are clickable in your profile. I’m always surprised that more people aren’t using these valuable opportunities in their Twitter bios.
Jim Cramer’s Twitter bio has two simple, concise sentences that promote and link to his website, charitable trust, his CNBC show and his blog.
It would have been easy to make a laundry list of those properties along with his book titles and accolades (just like everyone else). Instead, two well-crafted sentences emphasize his most important efforts and include links to each.
In your Twitter settings you have the option to set your location and provide a link to your website. Since Cramer’s main bio already links to his website, he uses his sidebar link to point to his author page.
Make the most of your real estate. If you have too much to convey in a sentence or two, get creative—use your sidebar link.
If you operate other accounts, go ahead and add them. These simple links are such an easy way to build your followers for other accounts or your website. Don’t miss out on this opportunity.
On the other hand, you don’t always need a list of keywords or even sentences to convey your sentiment. Sometimes, a single word can make a serious impact.
If you can creatively distill your abilities to one word, you’ve snagged yourself a punchy, powerful piece of the creativity pie.
I’m not talking about lying about your abilities. I’m talking about tongue-in-cheek obvious exaggeration.
An obvious “lie” can be funny and attract attention. For example, since when is Ellen an ice road trucker?
Smart Twitter users know that a static profile is boring and uncreative. Change it up based on what’s current in your career or marketing initiatives.
Changing your profile bio helps you keep followers abreast of your new accolades or endeavors (e.g., launching a new business or writing a book). Adapting your profile keeps you interesting. And best of all, it forces you to be creative more often.
Say “hello” or “goodbye” to your followers. When you speak directly to someone, you stand a much better chance of actually gaining his or her attention.
Use the word “you” rather than “I” in your profile—it becomes more of a personal message and less of a brag. With that simple change, your bio becomes more inviting.
Over to You
The New York Times calls Twitter bios a postmodern art form. If it’s an art form, then we are the artists. I encourage you to try some of these tips and see where your own creative artistry takes you.
Creativity doesn’t come with an instruction manual. You’ll probably find yours at weird moments when you least expect it. I know a lot of people who have that a-ha! moment in the shower!
Mary BartEditor, Faculty FocusTop Contributor
“I’d really rather work alone. . .” Most of us have heard that from a student (or several students) when we assign a group project, particularly one that’s worth a decent amount of the course grade. It doesn’t matter that the project is large,…
Professor of Pediatrics, Consultant Pediatrician at Babylon Medical College, Iraq
It may be related to shyness, introversion , improper self confidence, phobia or due to little knowlege
SteveCollege Professor at College of the Mainland
we train students to join the workforce. Team work is key. None of this lone wolf , inner child stuff. You cant be a nurse, a plant worker, someone in business unless you can teamwork……….
if you want to be an academic , even then you have others in your department , you teach . whether they are shy, introverted makes no difference. We humans are a pack type animal.
You can make all the esoteric analogies you want. But in this world , its a we world not an I one.
AlanProfessor (Adjunct) at Manchester Community College
With the demographics that I work with, I do not feel that group projects are particularly productive. One thing we must always be sure of before assigning a group project is whether or not doing so supports the objective of the course. That said, a mandatory group project might not be appropriate, say, in an accounting class, where group dynamics and playing well with others is not particularly a focus of the class objective.
For business classes, I give the option of group vs. individual project – but make it clear that the expectation multiplies by the number of group members. Our students work different schedules and all commute to class – the logistics alone can be overwhelming. Who’s going to watch the kids and the dogs?
Historically, group projects can be particularly overly stressful for students requiring accommodations and/or are living with physiological or mental health issues. When a group project is assigned, it is incumbent upon the instructor to ensure any such issues are addressed.
Assigning a group project now also makes us responsible for ensuring that the group functions appropriately, and the role of each group member is clearly identified so that you are able to assess performance. “Free riders” are an inherent reality in group projects, and as with public goods, someone still has to pay the price. (I have used a group project in an economics class – with a student “plant” to demonstrate the “free rider.”)
Overall, I feel that group projects should only be assigned in a controlled structured environment, otherwise someone will always feel left out. I use scheduled group projects only in classes where doing so meets a course objective, as I feel this is fairest to all of the students.
Grace T., Shagufta Tahir M. and 5 others like this
Brian RProfessor of Fisheries Science at Virginia Tech
No doubt the ‘lone wolf’ phenomenon is real, and we as educators have created it. Our educational system has reinforced to students that individual performance is supreme, and that is how they have generally been judged. Students have spent years polishing their capabilities to excel individually, and then suddenly we are saying that they need to not only work effectively in teams, but also figure out how to push team efforts to an excellent level so that their individual grade does not suffer due to below-average performance by other team members. So, first we need to be more consistent in our message(s) to students. We should be talking about critical professional skills (higher-level thinking, problem solving, communication, and teamwork) from the time they enter our university. And our curricula and courses should be designed to help them develop these skills. In the meantime, we should do all that we can to help them be successful in their new and unfamiliar teamwork roles. One way I have tried to reduce surprises and conflicts is to require student teams to develop a team charter before they commence any work. A charter lays out goals and methods for the team, along with expectations for team members and agreement on how conflicts will be resolved. I have students start at this link to learn about the benefits and structure of team charters: http://www.clarosgroup.com/jumpstart.pdf.
Shagufta Tahir M., Alan D. and 5 others like this
GraceFounder, Clavester University College Ltd; Clicking Connections; Oh Gracie! Sorrel jelly, wine and short stories
I find that getting students ready for team work is the way to go:
What it is
What is expected
Roles of each member
Employability factors from the task other than a grade (ie what skills they will learn to transfer to the working world as supervisors or workers)
Fun
Social benefits and the like
I use it often with all my groups as one of the objectives of the courses I write or deliver.
Dr Turner
David L., Stephen W. L. and 2 others like this
DarrinAdjunct Lecturer at Asia Pacific International University
I was one of those students who hated group work. The reason for me at least was because the group would slow me down. Often when people work in groups accountability goes down and people go off task. I remember being in groups were nobody wanted to do the assignment but wanted to socialize. In the real world this is not as bad because people are being employed and paid money so they have some motivation to work together.
Sadly, there are times were students need to work in groups. However, if I have a student who insist on working alone I tried to make accommodations for them because that student used to be me.
Shagufta TahirAssociate Professor , Anatomic and Clinical Pathology at King Abdulaziz University
Top Contributor
I agree with Alan that team projects should be chosen only if they are required to support the ILOs.However although the course may or may not require the team project we should keep in mind that all graduates are sooner or latter going to work outside the institution with people whom they dont know at all.If they are not encouraged to deal with their own familiar peers (at a relatively more flexible stage of their lives) I dont see how we can expect them to demonstrate standard collegiality later on in their careers.So I think team projects do groom our students with culture, grace , dignity and respect above all.It fosters life long professional relationships in which the team members become invested in each others ” development and well-being”
Yes! a serious challenge to team project is that of ” free riders” because they can potentially annoy and de- motivate delligent students.In my experience there has always been a note of caution in using “team projects ” since team’s performance is difficult to implement which I suppose is about ” performance mangement”.
This can be addressed by choosing the right design for the project that should be designed in a way that individual efforts are observable and measurable keeping the number of students to small.There are different models of team projects .I think “additive tasks where the individual inputs are added together so that the group productivity is determined by the individual contributions of all group members” are the best .The monitoring can be done by the direct supervision of the facilitator or by peers. We may also indirectly stress the potential for reputational consequences for poor individual effort that may work into motivating their engagement next time.
Team composition is an important determinant of team performance. Allowing teams to form autonomously with like-minded individuals who have self-selected into the team knowing who they will be working with are likely to perform better.But as an educator I have experienced that learning outcomes are better met with heterogeneity within the team.
Other way of engaging ” free riders” into teams is by using a mechanism to make the P & P well known to all students at the begining and by continuous monitoring of effort so that at the end they could share in a reward only if there is substantial evidence that they have worked hard enough to deserve it.
Ron K. likes this
Maryprofessor at University at Buffalo
1. complicated schedules. I generate groups with catme.org, which will take into account parameters that you determine (schedules, grades, etc.), allowing you to say what should and should not match, and how important it is, in order to come up with groups. I often modify the groups based on what I know of the individuals, but the main thing they help with is sorting the schedules. There is a catme users group on Linked In.
2. loafers. When I grade a group project, 1/3 of the grade is the overall project (and each member of the group gets the same grade), 1/3 is for the individuals’ performance (in presentation, answering questions, etc.) and 1/3 of the grade is peer grades. Every student grades the other members of the group. My assessment of the students’ contrubutions, and their peers’ assessment, is usually very close, but being allowed to grade their co-workers gives the student a little bit of feeling of input that helps to deal with the feeling of unfairness in being burdened with an uncooperative group member.
Frances T., Grace T. and 5 others like this
SteveCollege Professor at College of the Mainland
my group projects , except for one, are all where i can observe.
that being said i hear every semester the “i work better alone or it’s not fair to grade me with a group”
inevitably i ask them what “field” they are going into? we don’t need sole workers in the fields we ready them for.
1. the entire group gets the same grade.
2. all the groups , usually 4 or 5 of 4 or 5 students each, grade each other by student and by group.
3. everyone has same instructions……build a model for the physical folks, make an oral presentation ,3 to 5 minutes each student, in front of entire class and me, and bring it all together with a written report on the subject of a minimum of 20 pages for a C grade.
One of our Profs adds this little tidbit……..if after 2 weeks into the 5 week assignment, the team wants to remove someone for lack of commitment or participation, they can vote them off the team.
BUT they all have to put that in writing AND say why……….AND SIGN IT
the tossed student can then do the entire project all by themselves………BUT they lose one grade. so from an A to a B for example. WHY? it’s a team project and they know it ahead of time……
this isn’t Burger King and NO you can’t have everything YOUR own way in work either….
the other students are harsher graders then i usually turn out to be to….
Stephen W.Nonprofit & Community Leader, Educator, Researcher
I love and concur with Grace’s comments above!
David L. likes this
RobinP-T Faculty at Howard Community College
I have to admit I never liked team projects at first. I would be one that would rather do it myself and on my time, but with the way the world is today that is not a good idea anymore. You have to be able to work on virtual teams. Employers want to know that students have that skill. I always have the teams fill out an evaluation that I only read on their team members.
DavidFormer Professor at Georgia College & State University
Mary Bisson’s recognition of two flaws of group work, coordinating schedules and accounting for those who “loaf” through the project, is very real. I hated college committees for a third reason: conflicting learning styles (I’m being polite about the clashes). Some need reflection and contemplation before decision-making, others need visual prompts to facilitate understanding, and still others were more interpersonally oriented and needed to talk it over with someone, etc., etc. The notion that our society is “team” oriented is flawed. Most of our organizations are authoritarian, including the law, education, business, and the military. There is someone at the top who makes decisions–a judge, a teacher, a CEO, a general–and those below must follow. Only about 20% of us, on average, actually participate in one of the few “democratic” group activities: Juries.
My group projects were mainly during class time, during which I broke the large group into smaller ones, conducted an activity, and had a return to the larger group for reporting results.
Brian Murphy is right about our fostering individual success as the prime focus of our educational evaluation, yet working in groups is important. Learning to subjugate the self for a larger goal involving others is an important awareness, and those who cannot do this become outlaws…or CEOs or professors (being facetious here).
Shagufta Tahir M., Ron K. like this
RanaAssistant Professor at Saint James School of Medicine
I have observed marked improvement in group projects after providing the students with a workshop session on the Tuckman Stages of Team Development. Once they understand the causes of the Storming phase, they readily adopt the leadership strategies for moving into the Norming and Performing phases.
RobinP-T Faculty at Howard Community College
Rana,
Thanks for the resource. I will look into using that.
RonProfessor and Founder International Professors Project
Top Contributor
@David… Why did you not point to Wall street bankers?
RonProfessor and Founder International Professors Project
Top Contributor
To date, the lone wolf being more or less in a group, is more or less solvable/unsolvable— without detriment to the wolf or the group
DavidFormer Professor at Georgia College & State University
Tuckman has fun ideas because he rhymes, but the “stage” idea can be misleading since groups don’t always necessarily progress in these phases or the phases overlap. Having taught small group communication at my college, I can say that Tuckman’s (and Jensen) ideas came out of his research in the 60’s and 70’s and have been criticized for “overreaching” when trying to formulate neat stages, but his work has been very influential. Still, consideration of the purpose of the group, its “chemistry,” and the outside pressures guiding it is important. A family discussion at Thanksgiving is very different from small groups of students asked to analyze a short story, or a Senate committee charged with examining a marriage rights bill. Whether they neatly go from Forming to Storming to Norming to Performing is questionable (Tuckman later added “Adjourning” as a fifth stage).
And Ron, I thought I had pointed to Wall Street bankers when I mentioned outlaws.
Ron K. likes this
RonBiology Professor at Pellissippi State Community College
To David Muschell,
You are incorrect about military decision making. While generals (and colonels and majors) do have to make snap decisions in the midst of combat, the planning for combat operations is a lot more group based than most civilians think. The book “Into the Storm’ by General Fred Franks (co-written by Tom Clancy) describes the degree of collaboration between higher and lower levels of command and between adjacent units. The military understands that the best ideas don’t always come from the top. The lower ranking leader is often closer to the action and able to provide a different perspective.
Nanette W. likes this
DavidFormer Professor at Georgia College & State University
You have to have extreme admiration for Frederick Franks, but saying that the military structure is not authoritarian may overlook the fact that most of the best authoritarian leaders take input from others, especially those closest to the decision making theater, before making a decision. If a judge doesn’t look at precdents, a teacher at educational psychology, or a cop at the law, we can get bad decisions. The worst authoritarian leaders ignore those below them and dictate.
YaritzaProfessor of Curriculum, Educational Management and Research at UNEFM
I applaud Mary for raising this reflection in the group because it is a reality that we are in our teaching performance and hardly we have strategies, but Rana, Brian and Grace made some interesting proposals that we can apply.
RonProfessor and Founder International Professors Project
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@David …I apologize for missing Wall Street going David.
There many other instances of overvaluing a theory, a law or an idea, since almost no reader or student, or even a professor will check the research design and statistics and logical analysis of all such.
Mallow’s “theory” of personalty was disproved fifty years ago(?), but as the following years rolled by, HR professionals and many other admins were attached to the theory at the hip. It was a nice contribution to use as a subjective guideline for further work, but not to assume the hierarchy postulated almost always works–and even almost perefect does not a theory make–its considered to have been disproven.
Many people have a miserable childhood: physically and/or emotionally, and go hungry but pretty well climb the ladder toward self actualization.
RonProfessor and Founder International Professors Project
Top Contributor
@David …I apologize for missing Wall Street going David.
There many other instances of overvaluing a theory, a law or an idea, since almost no reader or student, or even a professor will check the research design and statistics and logical analysis of all such. Masow’s “theory” of personalty was disproved fifty years ago(?), but as the following years rolled by, HR professionals and many other admins were attached to the theory at the hip. It was a nice contribution to use as a subjective guideline for further work, but not to assume the hierarchy postulated almost always works–and even almost perefect does not a theory make–its considered to have been disproven.
Many people have a miserable childhood: physically and/or emotionally, and go hungry but pretty well climb the ladder toward self actualization.
RonBiology Professor at Pellissippi State Community College
Yes the military is authoritarian, but Soldiers also have to work in groups. All of my military training courses were taught in the small group style. My work as a staff officer was all done within small groups. And in Gen. Franks book he explains a lot about the reflective nature of his decision making process. How he would have his staff develop multiple possible plans and then not choose one until he had a chance to reflect on it. As he stated (paraphrasing a bit from memory): he often waited until the situation developed a bit and then the best option presented itself.
I think that it is important that students learn that group work of some time is required in all professions. Whether the group gets to make the decision or only pitch a particular plan, they stil have to work together to finish whichever job they are given.
AlanProfessor (Adjunct) at Manchester Community College
Not sure how the discussion digressed to military groups – or quoting Tommy Franks as a reliable source – but institutions such as the Army and Marine Corp do operate as small groups. The “basic” in basic training emphasizes the breaking down of individuality and being rebuilt to “all you can be” as part of a “group project.”
No place for that in accounting class.
The use of “small group” or team project instruction permeates throughout the public sector – whether military or civilian. But your added value to any group or organization remains what you contribute as an individual; first you must learn as an individual before you can effectively contribute to a group.
Group dynamics are important, but should not affect the individual outcome if not part of the learning objectives in the curriculum. I spent little time as a staff officer in the Army and never did figure out what the group think was leading to “decisions” that were handed down – and thanks to line officers like James Blunt who think as individuals, and disobeyed orders from General Wesley Clark, that we succeed as nations.
(probably not the best source, but an accurate summary:
http://hubpages.com/hub/1999-Showdowns-in-Kosovo-Russia-vs-NATO-US-vs-Britain
DavinaProfessor of Psychology at Franklin Pierce University
I use team work in classes where, as Alan mentioned above, a particular goal is enhanced. However, I never make the project worth more than 20% of the final grade because I once saw a stellar student miss out on admittance to his preferred grad school (he was admitted to another) due to one B on his transcript (from a course where the team grade was 60%).
I also believe that equating classroom team work with the world of employment is a terrible mistake. They are just not apples to apples! The people I work with have a lot more in common with me than students in a class room have with each other; and this class room heterogeneity is at it’s worst in the freshman and sophomore years. As for the team I work with, we have identical advanced degrees in the same field. All of us competed during hiring with other applicants, yet we, not those others, got hired. The chances that our personalities would mesh well are not guaranteed, but the odds are a lot higher than randomly throwing together a group of students.
Also regarding actual employment, there are many jobs that do not require team work, and shy people or those with Asperger’s, for example, tend to self-select and gravitate to these positions. One example is a family member who works at the American College of Surgeons in Chicago. He sits in an office all by himself editing manuscripts and may see his boss once a week. Though this is not my idea of a fun time, he loves his job.
WethingtonAssistant Professor Process Technology at College of the Mainland
Question: if you go into a workplace right out of College , what are you?
answer: A freshman in the workplace. A lot of book learning maybe, but damn little practical experience.
Teamwork is a requirement for the majority of folks outside Academia. You don’t have to like the other, you sure as heck don’t have to have the same outside interests.
But you do have to work together. The Team will have type A’s and type B’s and folks who play well with others and folks that don’t. There for sure are no guaranties, but i know of none except death and taxes anyways. There is a valid reason for teaching teamwork. It has a function in life and in the workplace.
and i see the “Asperger’s clause too. Which just in last few months has been called into question, if it even exists. If 5 % are that way, we modify everything and NOT teach or lead the other 95%? I modify my entire class for the same percentages? (and i know you can argue whatever that % should be and miss the point)
We do student NO service by NOT getting them out of their comfort zone in this regards.
DavidProfessor at Cambridge College
Top Contributor
The so called “Lone Wolf” is of vital importance to the group.
“It is easy to live for others, everybody does. I call on you to live for yourself.”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson
KipAssistant Professor at Univ of Manitoba, Inner City Social Work Program
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I use group work for several classes and find that my students are apprehensive about this style UNTIL I explain that although it is “group” work they will ONLY be graded on their portion. For example, when I have the 4 groups go out to do a community assessment on the 4 sections: demographics, community characteristics, community services, and strengths and challenges, I have each student take a portion of their section and present their 4-5 page paper, as a poster presentation, in which they are quizzed about their poster and the information they gathered on the community for their particular section. Each student in each group has their section to present and defend, while at the same time they must all work together to ensure that their section is accurate! And I make sure to reinforce this grading system every class until the poster presentation, which is usually the last class before the final exam. I find that when this is explained properly, at the beginning of the class, and reinforced when the assignment is discussed, then there are fewer questions/problems. Students need to learn the importance and value of teamwork.
Amy LynnAssociate Professor at Herzing University
I have personally always hated group work – whether as a student or as an employee. Quite frankly, working with others lowers the quality of the work I could do on my own. Either that, or I end up doing all the work myself, anyway, because I have lazy group members. However, I also accept that I have to do it, so when required, I do it, and “we” produce a mediocre outcome. When I’m allowed to work alone, I get excited about the possibilities, get creative, excel, the product is better, and it’s delivered faster.
I don’t blame students for hating group work. When they say they hate group work (when I DO assign it, and I DO), I tell them that hating something is no reason not to learn to do it and no reason not to do it and do it well. “For example,” I tell them, “I also really hate doing the dishes.”
Hui L. likes this
RanaAssistant Professor at Saint James School of Medicine
It can be very difficult when individual group members simply do not have any competencies relevant to the group assignment. However, working in teams in which individual members contribute their highest level of expertise or talent to the project generates outcomes that are greater than those that could be produced by a single person working alone.
WethingtonAssistant Professor Process Technology at College of the Mainland
and BINGO !!!!!!!!!!!!! Rana Thank you very much. That is EXACTLY why we should do teams in college.
BTW………….rarely in 30 + years in 5 different sets of Plant experiences have i ever been asked if i wanted to join a group. I was assigned.
I was not the lead in the group more then i was. When i was leader, i was “graded” on how the team did. The sum of the parts is most often better then just 1 part. This ” I excel when i am working alone” besides being egocentric is most often NOT true in more Industries and careers then it is.
Steve Jobs , Bill Gates, et al might be really impressive individuals no doubt, but Apple, Goggle, Microsoft, and every top 500 company is team work oriented.
MichaelAssistant Professor
Here’s what I would see…the high achievers didn’t like group work because they ended up carrying the lesser achievers. The lesser achievers didn’t like group work because they were unveiled as lesser achievers.
WethingtonAssistant Professor Process Technology at College of the Mainland
maybe, but that is the real world isn’t it? Sometimes i was the high achiever , some times not so much……….It isn’t us vs them………..it’s how do you work in teams to get the “job” or “assignment” done? and maybe more importantly how do i feel about the job i am doing?
and with peer grading input, every one in class knows who is who just like in real world.
I was turned down for a promotion once early on in my career field. The Boss 2 levels up said he couldn’t afford to lose me cause i was such a great member of the team……….
Boy did i hem and haw and get bent………..then my direct boss came to me and asked me if i trusted him and his boss or not?
i had to say yes since that was the truth………i got more of a raise and moved into a more visible spot on other teams then the fella who got promoted.
KipAssistant Professor at Univ of Manitoba, Inner City Social Work Program
Top Contributor
I agree with Rana and Wethington! I know that my wife has standards and she told me of one bad experience where she had to expel a member of her group and then explain to the prof why. After receiving a 1 page group assignment, which was due the following week, one group member choose not to submit anything until 10pm the night before the assignment was due for the 8am class. This was after repeated phone calls and emails asking for her input! So the next morning, this group member was told that her name would be removed from the next assignment, with a handwritten explanation that she had not contributed to the assignment and the prof was also given copies of the unanswered emails for the week! The funny thing, the assignment was on Humanities and covered free will. My wife told the prof that the other group members and she were using their collective “free will” and asking this student to be removed from the group. It was done, as the prof used his free will and placed her in another group — where she caused them havoc for the rest of the semester! The problem with group work stems from conflicting personalities rather than one person maybe not wanting to do “real” work to get the job done.
But she knows that she can be hard on group members and tells them in the beginning. If you tell students that this is about teamwork and the ability to show respect for others talent, time, skill, etc, and communicate your feelings in a non-confrontational way, then group work can be amazing.
Currently my wife is helping to mentor my 4 groups writing their portion of their class community assessment, so she is helping to reign 24 different personalities and working/writing styles so that these students individual papers can be edited into one cohesive paper. Yes, group is challenging for some, as trying to overcome the need to control everything can be exhausting.
KipAssistant Professor at Univ of Manitoba, Inner City Social Work Program
Top Contributor
Michael – maybe the “lesser achiever” did not appreciate the demeaning tone used by those who thought they were the “higher achievers.” I know that once group members start to label others, then that shows a lack of respect. While there are (many) times that group members may not contribute what they need to the group as a whole, it is up to the instructor to be made aware of this “problem” and let the students know that there is a solution to the situation of one or several members of a group not pulling their weight and doing their job to get the project done. That is why I grade on individual work within the group assignment- that way, the students still need to work together in order to ensure that the group project is well covered/presented and at the same time one member is not carrying the academic work load for the entire group. Group work is team work!
SusanAssociate Professor and Program Director at Paralegal Program, Kapi`olani Community College
Having the group spirit falter because one member doesn’t show up consistently can negatively impact the final project. However, in the real world for which I am preparing my students, they will run into good teammates and bad teammates, and they will need to produce the best work they can, despite any slackers. This is my strategy.
I give only one group project as semester (and not in each course) in recognition of the difficulty that students have in collaborating with each other in a non-residential community college setting where 75% of the students work. I assign a maximum of three people per team and I give them a description of the three roles that are important on this team – the coordinator, the scribe, and the document preparer – and each team gets to decide who gets which role. This gives them a structure right from the start and helps manage expectations.
In addition to the rubric for the project, I also provide them, right from the start, with a team member rubric that allows them to rate their team members as participating at a 100%, 80%, 60%, 40%, 20% or 0 level. I tell the students that if one of their members is slacking, that they will have to pitch in and do the work so that they produce a quality product, but that their teamwork multiplier will be applied to their colleague (so that if the team product receives 25 points, the two dedicated members get 100% of that, or the full 25 points, while a somewhat less productive member could get an 80% rating and thus earn only 20 points, or a real slacker get 40%, or 10 points). I reserve the right to make the final judgment in case of conflict.
So each student knows that they cannot coast with penalty – the individual grade they get will be adjusted according to their peers’ perception of them. So far, I have not had many team member downgrades, and no challenges to a group’s decision to downgrade the contributions of one of its members.
Robin L. likes this
RobinP-T Faculty at Howard Community College
I agree that it helps to reinforce that they will be evaluated privately to me from their group members. I guess there will never be a perfect situation in teamwork; but when it works the members of the team can learn from it. The real world workplace will have obstacles along the way and the more practice the better.
I have had students say well if I was working in the workplace with this team I would quit. I try to explain to students that is not always an option. Working with team members is here to stay.
David L. likes this
AlanProfessor (Adjunct) at Manchester Community College
In my function as an employment counselor, I would never consider recommending a customer take a position or place a client in a job where they are not comfortable. There is a job out there for everyone, that they will enjoy as part of their own fulfillment. If someone is uncomfortable with group work, we would not attempt to place someone in such a position, that could very well be paramount to failure.
Working with team members, as an overpowering concept, is overrated. That goes to the current warm fuzzy that people are happier if they socialize with the people they work with. Another not so bright idea – effectively, it breaks the workplace into age groups. Let’s face it – the years I worked as a ski instructor, my “peers” (and I do hate that term) were almost young enough to be my grandchildren. Not only did we not socialize outside of work, but a lot of folks probably would ave thought it was creepy for me to be hanging around with teenage boys and girls!
While at work, we may have to suffer participating with others for a project, there are usually some major differences than in the classroom. Most likely, the team has been chosen because of the unique skills they bring to the project. Their will be a designated arbitrator or team leader, and it is not just a random group of people who may or may not ave similar goals. Although we mean well in academia, are we really satisfying the need for any particular skills or are we blindly following our own “intuition.”
Having been to faculty and staff meetings that may take weeks just to come up with a mission statement, one must question whether or not we are helping or hurting students by having them participate in our personal version of group dynamics. I don’t teach HVAC – I leave that to the experts. Same with group dynamics – let’s have the black belts (re: General Electric) take the lead. Better yet – maybe we should send faculty to Six Sigma Certification. http://www.ge.com/sixsigma/SixSigma.pdf
Amy Lynn H. likes this
Dr.Maj. KappagomtulaProfessor at VIT University
The root cause for all maladies in executing any large sized projects in any Country lies in this very basic ‘hatred’ to get associated with group tasks or assignments by the students. It may sound strange, but it is true through empirical proof. The very fact that Chinese are very successful in their ventures, be it the Olympics or in delivering mega projects, with a spectacular finish are all linked into their cultural inheritance to consider themselves as a part and parcel of a large family at all times and in all places. The elements of Guanxi (establishing personal rapport with one another), the Mianzhi phenomenon (influence of Face), and their indomitable ethnographic bonding (‘minzhu de jing mi jie he) all play predominant roles in their work environment. In contrast to Chinese, people in other parts of the world are all influenced by their ‘self centric’ attitude and the desire to excel and compete with peers as an individual rather than as a group. Where ever there is a cohesion between the team members, as in the case of sports / games, the clear results of success can be easily discerned due to synergy creation. If the culture of group work is indoctrinated into the young minds right from their preliminary schooling days, by designing mini projects involving team participation, we as teaching fraternity can really transform our society in a great way!
howardprofessor at Seneca College of Applied Arts and Technology
First, the “theory” –
In schools, colleges and universities, students are mainly graded on their individual competence as demonstrated in examinations of one sort or another. Assessment of personal performance and individual accountability for achievement are – like it or not – endemic to the liberal tradition (broadly defined) that has been increasingly part of Western culture since the early political theories of possessive individualism articulated by Hobbes and Locke. They are also essential to Western concepts of fairness, to what’s left of the idea of a “meritocracy,” and to concepts of unfairness such as collective punishment for the bad acts of a few (never mind coercion in the interest of creating “snitches” – as in “you’ll all get a detention until you ‘rat out’ the kid who hit the teacher in the back of the head with a piece of chalk … or a snowball”).
Group work (along with group-think and group-speak) may well be the order of the day (or the day after tomorrow) in the organizational-cum-corporate society (never mind that all members of the group are ready and willing to stab their colleagues in the back at an opportune moment and to win some sort of reward/promotion for doing so); however, we must at least acknowledge that an undiminished sense of personal responsibility and a complete dedication to teamwork are fundamentally contradictory – the potential problems this poses for employees’ mental health are enormous, if only in terms of issues of cognitive dissonance.
Now, the practice –
We all know (or should know) that assigned group work is mainly a farce. For example, tasks are almost never equally shared. The “smart kids” do the work and the dullards ride the coat-tails … especially if the smart kids are also easily intimidated and the dullards carry weapons. In any case, when all members of the group receive the same grade for an allegedly collaborative accomplishment, the ones who were mainly responsible for whatever success was achieved will inevitably feel resentment and the laggards will feel empowered for having “gamed the system.” Neither is a commendable result.
But, please, don’t get me wrong. I am a tremendous supporter of working in groups … provided that the groups are self-selected. Throughout undergraduate school and at least for my first postgraduate degree, I benefited a great deal from working with colleagues-friends in informal arrangements running from organized “study groups” in preparation for examinations to extended and unstructured “seminars” that could go for hours after a class (with or without libations at a local pub). In fact, I regard these often seemingly endless chats about this or that to have been essential to whatever learning took place for me and, I think, for others as well.
The point?
The trick is to distinguish between authentic “education” and “job training” in the sense of practice for corporate success by mirroring the “labour process” of employment and the “learning process” of education. As with most insinuations of the “business model” into the “academic atmosphere,” the results can be at best ambiguous, often oxymoronic and mostly a sham.
Incidentally, at a near-by university, several students were expelled for “plagiarism” in that they had gathered in a study group (online, I think) “brainstormed” about what was likely to be on the final exam, assigned responsibility for members to come up with answers to one or more questions, shared the information and – when the exam was written – got “caught” for providing almost identical word-for-word responses. So, it seems that not only the students but also the professors and the authorities above them are totally confused about what all of this means and may portend for a very uncertain future.
Amy Lynn H. likes this
Amy LynnAssociate Professor at Herzing University
Self-selected groups are definitely the way to go. I have had very interesting issues, though, where after a time, no one would select a certain person for their group. That person had to wander around the room asking groups to please accept him in the group. Thank you for this wonderful post and the reminder that education is not all “job training.”
David L. likes this
hassan—
I do like team work. It is inspiring, fun, and let you communicate with others and build life-time friendships. Sometimes, group work hold you back, but it pays off when you meet people might need your help. This might release and ignite your mental reasoning, which will make you smarter.
ChristinaTeaching at Humber College
anyone have any advice for students who fail because their group members plagiarize?
AlanProfessor (Adjunct) at Manchester Community College
Howard and I often don’t agree – but spot on this time around!
SteveCollege Professor at College of the Mainland
The fact that one uses self – selected teams might work if all were of the exactly same motivation i suppose. I have seen “hi-performance” teams before, doesn’t usually work except maybe in a research environment.
We here select the teams. Why? Because of demographics, mixing the students up. They come to us not from the same demographic , except maybe for ivy-leaquers. We mix races, sexes, ages, family backgrounds, and the students demonstrated or even perceived abilities.
We give them projects including hands-on, oral, written, and presentations on subjects they know little if anything about. We set a timeline and send them off. As a Prof i nudge, cajole, push a little, send in right directions for info, and educate….
Take more time then a lecture? damn sure it does……But the outcome, oh the outcome when a team gets accomplishment that the project works!!!!
I have even seen teams who were successful, turn around and help other student teams reach the finish line. WITHOUT ME ASKING THEM TOO!!!
And they all Cheered and laughed and bonded thru it all……..Their eyes lite up, they hug each other, a sense of accomplishment is born showing how teamwork……..WORKS!!!!!
Anybody ever seen a high school or college debate team win??? WOW……..
I am not as eloquent as Howard. But i teach in a real world . :
“The trick is to distinguish between authentic “education” and “job training” in the sense of practice for corporate success by mirroring the “labour process” of employment and the “learning process” of education. As with most insinuations of the “business model” into the “academic atmosphere,” the results can be at best ambiguous, often oxymoronic and mostly a sham.”
Teams aren’t back stabbing, cut your throat minded or bad things. Neither is business. To even imply such when discussing what i believe we are to do as educators and mentors is ludicrous. You want to develop that side ?
I certainly don’t. It’s always amazing to me what stops Academia from investing in what supposedly is our concerns, the students.
Like it or not students need to go to jobs after college. Most of those jobs will NOT be academic in nature.
I rarely got to “pick” my teams i worked on. In Academia i sure haven’t. In workforce , omg i mean jobs…….GASP….in the “real “world, the same was true.
Doctors work together in surgery with all sorts of specialized training to ensure the outcome, a healed patient. Businesses can’t run without teamwork. The Military , far from what has been said here, may have top down leadership, but you can not fix a jet or ship or tank all by one person.
We tell the students “you can either be an agent for change in your life……or get run over by it”
i see a lot of the latter in this discussion.
GraceFounder, Clavester University College Ltd; Clicking Connections; Oh Gracie! Sorrel jelly, wine and short stories
Re grade and plagiarism:
All group members have a collective responsibility where a group task is concerned. One cannot say not me, but the others. The grade is to be the same in my book.
Christina H. likes this
ChristinaTeaching at Humber College
yes, that’s the traditional line… any divergent suggestions or solutions to address the issue?
TeryAssoc. Professor at Wesley College
My students are definitely fans of forming their own groups. What I did this semester was let them pick a topic, and also tell me if there were people in class they wanted to work with. For people who had other people they specifically wanted to work with, I tried to accommodate them. For people who did not know the other students well enough to know whom they wanted to work with, I assigned them to groups by the topic they were interested in.
I have a question for those of you who let students form their own groups, though. How do you handle that in a class of, say, 20-30, when the students don’t really know one another yet?
Raeassociate professor, faculty of art at Ontario College of Art & Design
At OCAD University in Toronto, i give my students a group assignment as their first assignment. I allow them to form their own groups and intervene when they are uncertain.
The students produce a short performative drawing using old-school overhead projectors and drawings on acetate, creating a narrative or music to accompany the images. I video their performances and later together we review the projects and offer critique based on the predetermined criteria. The project is only worth 20% of their total grade for the course in order to factor in the coasters. The results vary from year to year.
The project is not so much about product, although of course it is an important factor, but rather about learning to work in a group – how to organize themselves and utilize each others strengths to best advantage. Even in the arts, we are dependent on each other to form our ideas and forward them through the creation of exhibition venues for example. Often, after this project, students find peers and friendships emerge which sometimes continue long after they have graduated. In a large university setting is often hard for students to connect with one another, and let’s face it, so much learning comes from informal discussions among peers as from formal lecturing at the front of the lecture hall. And in the professional world, the discussion goes on after a degree is achieved.
Christina H., David L. and 1 other like this
http://podnetwork.org/event/pod-2013/
Conference program available in PDF and upub format, so I can have it on my laptop and on my mobile device: diminishes the necessity to carry and pull constantly a paper stack.
it is the only conference I know with 6AM yoga. Strong spirit in a strong body. LRS & CETL must find space and instructors an offer mediation + yoga opportunity for SCSU students to disconnect
1:00 – 5:00 PM excursion to Carnegie Mellon – Learning Spaces. LRS interest in Learning Commons.
From the pre-conference workshops, Thurs, Nov 7, 8:30AM – 12:00PM:
Linda Shadiow, Connecting Reflection and Growth: Engaging Faculty Stories.
This workshop seems attractive to me, since it coincides with my firm conviction that SCSU faculty must share “best practices” as part of the effort to engage them into learning new technologies.
Kenyon, Kimberly et al, Risky Business: Strategic Planning and Your Center.
This workshop might be attractive for Lalita and Mark Vargas, since strategic planning is considered right now at LRS and CETL might also benefit from such ideas.
roundtables, Thurs, Nov. 7, 1:30-2:45PM
Measuring the Promise in Learner-Centered Syllabi
Michael Palmer, Laura Alexander, Dorothe Bach, and Adriana Streifer, University of Virginia
Effective Faculty Practices: Student-Centered Pedagogy and Learning Outcomes
Laura Palucki Blake, UCLA
Laura is the assistant director http://gseis.ucla.edu/people/paluckiblake
3 time survey of freshmen. survey also faculty every 3 years. can link this date: faculty practices and student learning
triangulating research findings. student-centered pedagogy. which teaching practices are effective in promoting student-center learning practices.
no statistical differences in terms of student learning outcomes between part-time and full-time faculty. The literature says otherwise, but Laura did not find any statistical difference.
http://ow.ly/i/3EL77
discussions is big, small group work is big with faculty
in terms of discussions, there is huge difference between doing discussion and doing it well.
this is a self-report data, so it can be biased
there are gender differences. women more likely to use class discussions, cooperative learning same, students presentations same. gender discipline holds the gender differences. same also in STEM fields.
students evaluations of each other work. cooperative learning: it is closer gender-wise.
the more student-centered pedagogy, the less disengagement from school work.
understand on a national level what students are exposed to.
lpblake@hmc.edu
http://www.heri.ucla.edu/
wabash national data.
ePublishing: Emerging Scholarship and the Changing Role of CTLs
Laura Cruz, Andrew Adams, and Robert Crow, Western Carolina University
LORs are in Kentucky.
CETL does at least Professional Development, Resources, Eportfolios, LORSs. FLCs
Teaching Times at Penn.
model 2: around instructional technology. More and more CETL into a combined comprehensive center. about 9 are paid by IT and 11 by academic center. because of finances cuts this is the model predicted from the 90s. Why not IT? because ater they say how to use it. and how to use it effective. think outside of technology, technogogy is not the same as technology. Teacher-scholar model: research, service, teaching.
http://ow.ly/i/3EMJl
egallery and other electronic ways to recognize productivity. Stats and survey software does NOT reside with grad studies, but with CETL, so CETL can help faculty from a glimmer of an idea to presentation and publication. Research Support Specialist.
how and where it fits into faculty development. Neutrality. Should CETL be advocates for institutional, organizational change. Do CETL encourage faculty to take innovation and risk (change the culture of higher ed). Tenure and promotion: do we advocate that epub should count, e.g. a blog will count toward tenure.
a national publication: http://www.sparc.arl.org/resources/authors/addendum
we domenstrate that it is good school. scholarship of teaching will be good teaching.
OER? Open educational resources. SHould CETL host and participate in those? Do we participate in creating resources, which are designed to replace texbooks? Caroline has a state-wide grant to support faculty developing learning resources.
open access is controversial. the right to publish and republish. http://www.sparc.arl.org/
40% of all scholarly articles are owned by 3 publishers
Academic Social Media academic.edu and electronic journals.
CETL is the comprehensive center, the hub where people go to, so CETL can direct them to and or get together stakeholder to make things happen.
the lesson from this session for me is that Lalita and Keith Ewing must work much closer.
Evaluating the quality of MOOCs: Is there room for improvement?
Erping Zhu, University of Michigan; Danilo Baylen, University of West Georgia
reflection on “taking” a MOOC and the seven principles. how to design and teach MOOC using the seven principles.
MOOC has a lot of issues; this is not the focus, focus is on the instructional design. Both presenters are instructional designers. Danilo is taking MOOC in library and information science.
Second principle: what is a good graduate education.
about half had completed a course. Atter the 3rd week the motivation is dissipating.
Erping’s experience: Provost makes quick decision. The CETL was charged with MOOC at U of Michigan. Securing Digital Democracy. http://www.mooc-list.com/university-entity/university-michigan
Danilo is a librarian. his MOOC class had a blog, gets a certificate at the end. Different from online class is the badges system to get you involved in the courses. the MOOC instructors also had involved grad students to monitor the others. the production team is not usually as transparent as at Corsera. Sustainability. 10 week module, need to do reflections, feedback from peers. 7 assignments are too much for a full-time professional.
http://www.amazon.com/Library-2-0-Guide-Participatory-Service/dp/1573872970
http://tametheweb.com/category/hyperlibmooc/
http://tametheweb.com/2013/10/20/hyperlibmooc-library-2-013-presentation-links/
1. principle: contact btw faculty and student. Not in a MOOC. video is the only source provides sense of connection. the casual comments the instructor makes addressing the students provides this sense. Quick response. Collaboration and cooperation in MOOC environment and bring it in a F2F and campus teaching. Feedback for quizzes was not helpful to improve, since it i automated. students at the discussion board were the one who helped. from an instructional design point of view, how MOOC design can be improved.
group exercise, we were split in groups and rotated sheet among each other to log in response to 7 sheets of paper. then each group had to choose the best of the logged responses. the responses will be on the POD site.
eri week resources
Per Keith’s request
“Why Students Avoid Risking Engagement with Innovative Instructional Methods
Donna Ellis, University of Waterloo”
Excerpt From: Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education. “POD Network 2013 Conference Program, Pittsburgh PA 11/7 to 11/10.” iBooks.
This material may be protected by copyright.
A quantitative study. The difficulty of group works. Various questions from the audience, the time of class (early Mrng) is it a reason to increase the students disengagement. Students pereceptions .
The teacher did. It explain why the research and this might have increased the negative perception. Summary of key barrierS.
Risk of negative consequneces
preceived lack of control
contravention of perceived norms.
fishbein and Aizen 2010
discussoon . How faculty can design and deliver the course to minimize the barriers. Our table thought that there are a lot of unknown parameters to decide and it is good to hear the instructor nit only the researcher. How to deal with dysfunctional group members behaviors. Reflections from the faculty member how to response to the data? Some of the barriers frustrated him. Outlines for the assignments only part of the things he had done to mitigate. What are we asking students on course evaluations. Since a lot more then only negative feedback. Instructor needes more training in conflict resolution and how to run group work.
CRLT Players
Friday, Nov 8, 10:30 AM – 12:00 PM
William Penn Ballroom
7 into 15CRLT Players, University of Michigan”
Excerpt From: Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education. “POD Network 2013 Conference Program, Pittsburgh PA 11/7 to 11/10.” iBooks.
This material may be protected by copyright.
It is a burlesque and theater approach to engage students and faculty into a conversation. 10 plays in 30 min.
Discuses different topics from the plays and seek solutions as a team. How to deal with international students ( Harvard lady said ” safe places” for students) how to deal with technology or the lack of it, missed next one writing this notes and how to reward faculty in innvative things. T. Encoruage innovation, they received a letter from the provost and if they fail, it is not used in their annual evaluation
Freedom to Breathe: A Discussion about Prioritizing Your Center’s Work
Andy Goodman and Susan Shadle, Boise State University
Connecting, Risking, and Learning: A Panel Conversation about Social Media
Michelle Rodems, University of Louisville. Conference C 9:00 AM – 10:15 AM
The use of social media in higher education
Conference C 9-11:15 AM
Panel of CETL directors and faculty. The guy from Notre dame uses word press the same way I use it. Collect questions and after the 3rd one creates blog entry and answers the next q/ s with the URL to the blog entry NspireD is the name of. The blog
the OHIO state UCAT guy is a twitter guy. Program coordinator who manages wordpress and web site. Intersect with FB and twitter. Platforms are inteGrated, so be did not to know the technicalities. The graduate consultants are setting up. ciirdinator tried to understand how the mesh together. Can be used as conversation starters or to broadcast and share info. Use of hashtags how to use them appropriate in twitter and FB to streamline .
Scsu problem. W don’t build it they will not come. a Tim burton version of the field of dreams.
Rachel CETL assist dir at U of Michigan. She is out there personally likes it. Very static web page. Drupal as a content management system so the blog is part of the web page. So 2 times a week entries. One of the staff people is an editor and writes blog posts, but vetted by a second CETL staff. Auto push for the blog to the twitter. Screencasts for YouTube channel with screencasts. Comments on the blog minimal from faculty and stat. What about students? About 1000 followers on the twitter. What do analytics say. Hits on home page, but no idea how much time reading. The time people spend more time and using the tags . the use of blog is less formal way to share information. recycling in December and August a lot of material.
does anybody subscribe and do you promote RSS
the separate blog for a workshop requires interaction and that is a success
for faculty development U of Michigan is using blog recruited 50 to follow the blog. TSam of 3 using. WordPress For a semester and then survey. Focus group. Huge success, between 6 and 30 comments. Community with no other space on campus
how are u using social media to promote connections. elevate voices of others on campus by interviewing faculty. At U of Michigan there was no interest to learn about what other faculty are doing. So they trashed that initiative but starTed a video narration about faculty who innovate. Videotaped and edited no hi Qual video , tagged and blog posted and this approach created more connection, because it is not text only.
What have been the obstacles and indoor failure and what have you learned?
convincing the administration that CETL than do it and it does not have to be the same quality as the web page and the printed material. Changing the mindset. No assessment, since nothing else was working and they were ready for radical step such as blog
Same with the twitter. Taking the risk to experiment with the hashtags. Tweets can’t be approved. Need to time to build an audience, one month will not have an impact. Start with the. Notion that you are building a reposIvory noT a foRum
one of the panelist has a google spreadsheet which has information of allCETL social media sites There are resources on how to deal with negative outcomes of using social media. Working with librarians, the Norte dame said! they will give you twenty sources. No no, no, he siad, give me your best three.
U of MichiGan more grad studns blog guest posts almost no faculty.
Have you considered giving them more then guest blog, but no facilitator? Let faculty once a semester do a blog post. It is not moderated but more like lead to how to do a good blog. Interview based approach is unique and does not show up somewhere elSe.
Insitutional background important in these decisions.
How often refresh the wordpress page. How often one person is voicing and it takes a log of journalistic skills. Use the draft option to publish when there are several ideas coming at once.
Mindshift of CETL is to decrease the standards. Make it more informal. Blog post can be always fixed later. To avoid faculty false perception that this is not scholarly needs to be references. So causal tone + references.
Blog ” from students perspective” is repurposE
Risking Together: Cultivating Connection and Learning for Faculty Teaching Online
Michaella Thornton, Christopher Grabau, and Jerod Quinn, Saint Louis University
Oliver 9-11:15 AM
Space Matters! and Is There a Simple Formula to Understand and Improve Student Motivation
Kathleen Kane and Leslie A. Lopez, University of Hawaii at Manoa
Riverboat 9:00 AM – 10:15 AM
The Risks and Rewards of Becoming a Campus Change Agent
Dr. Adrianna Kezar, University of Southern California
William Penn Ballroom 10:30 AM – 12:00 PM
Branch campuses, students abroad, to more with less, completion from profit institutions
students work more but this is a good reflection on learning success
provost might ask to consolidate prof development opportunities for faculty and students instead of faculty only.
If administration is genuine understand transparent Administration more about persuading not listening. Respect, not assuming that faculty will not accept it. If faculty will sacrifices what will faculty see the administration sacrifice on their side. Leading from the. Middle , it means collective vision for the future. Multilevel leadershup, top down efforts dont work and bottom top are fragile. Managing up is less preferred then powering up. It is difficult to tell administration that they miss or misunderstand the technology issue.
Four frames. Goal multi frame leadership http://www.tnellen.com/ted/tc/bolman.html. Vey much the same as Jim Collins good to great right people on the bus right trained http://www.afa1976.org/Portals/0/documents/Essentials/Creating%20Organizational%20Learning%20and%20Change.pdf
How to build coalition, different perspectives, aknowledge the inherent conflict.
The Delphi project
It Takes a Campus: Promoting Information Literacy through Collaboration
Karla Fribley and Karen St. Clair, Emerson College
Oakmont 1:45 PM – 3:00 PM
Most of the attendees and both presenters were librarians
The presenters played a scatch to involve the particppaints
deifnition what is IL. https://mobile.twitter.com/search/?q=%23POD13&s=hash
Information literacy collaborative work with faculty to design student learning outocmes for information literacy
Guiding principles by backward course design
Where they see students struggle with research
question to students survey, what is most difficult for your and wordle.
self reflection ow.ly/i/3G0UH
Curriculum mapping to identify which courses are the stretigic ones to instill the non credit info litreacy
acrl assessment in action
Risky Business: Supporting Institutional Data Gathering in Faculty Development Centers
Meghan Burke and Tom Pusateri, Kennesaw State University
Oliver 1:45 PM – 3:00 PM Roundtable
Exploring Issues of Perceptual Bias and International Faculty
Shivanthi Anandan, Drexel University.
Heinz 3:15 PM – 4:30 PM Roundtable
Why do we need it and onoy regarding international faculty don’t in Kim Lisa wolf-wendel
susan twombly. Pointers for hiring and retention. Performance is both teaching and living. Sanitary effect. sanitary issues not only pay rate. FLC all tenure track without citizenship they are worried about their tenure. Funding agencies, very few will fund you if you are not a citizenship
Diane Schafer perceptual biases, graffiti. Cathryn Ross
Averting Death by PowerPoint! From Killer Professors to Killer Presenters
Christy Price, Dalton State College
Riverboat 4:45 PM – 6:00 PM
How to create effective mini lectures checklist for acting palnning
engage and leave lecture out. The reason why can’t move away is because some people lecture as performance art
Make lectures mini. How long mini should be. 22 min, the age number of the person.
Emotional appeal, empathy.
Evoke positive emotions with humor. Always mixed method research, since the narrative Berk, r. (2000) and Sousa (2011)
ethical. Obligations and emotional appeal
acknowledge the opposition
enhance memory processing with visuals and multimedia
use guided practice by miniki zing note taking
presentationzen is a book! which need to read http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/presentation-zen-garr-reynolds/1100391495?ean=9780321525659
Enchanted memory processing by creating mistery
address relevance
http://advanceyourslides.com/2011/01/28/the-5-most-memorable-concepts-from-nancy-duartes-new-book-resonate/
Death by PowerPoint: Nancy Duarte: The secret structure of great talks
http://www.ted.com/talks/nancy_duarte_the_secret_structure_of_great_talks.html
Engage faculty by showing. Faculty how their presentation. Is. And how it c can be
process with clickers
Sunday Mrng session
vygotsky zone of NAND the flipped mindset. http://t.co/vCI8TOJ7J2. Cool tweets at #pod13.
Ideas process baudler Boyd stromle 2013
I – identify the issue
D debrief the situation
A analyze what happened
s strategize solutions and Oport unities for growth and future success